The Heart of the Matter
by snarkysweetness
Summary: "She killed Graham because he was good." Post-Curse: Emma plans to make Regina pay for ruining the lives of the people she loves.


**Title:** The Heart of the Matter  
**Author:** snarkysweetness  
**Rating: **R  
**Characters:** Emma, Henry, Mother Superior/The Blue Fairy, Dr. Whale/Prince Eric/Monstro, Snow, Charming, Ruby, Granny, Team 7 (Mostly Leroy), Regina/The Evil Queen, & August/Pinocchio; Past Emma/Graham, Past Regina/Graham, Snow/Charming, & Emma/August  
**Summary:** _"She killed Graham because he was good."_ Post-Curse: Emma plans to make Regina pay for ruining the lives of the people she loves.  
**Warnings:** Minor violence and language. Rated to be safe.  
**Disclaimer:** I own nothing.  
**Author's Notes:** You know you've all wondered what Emma's going to do when she realizes Regina really did kill Graham, don't deny it. This ended up having more plot than intended, so I hope it doesn't suck too badly.

_"She killed Graham because he was good."_

Emma stares out the window, watching as the remaining vapors of the purple smoke dissipate. She feels Henry by her side and it breaks the semi-trance she's been in for the past few minutes. She reaches for her gun and remembers that it's down in the mine somewhere.

Too bad, she'd like to get this final battle business over and done with before Regina decided to kill more people she loved.

Henry.

August.

Graham.

Not to mention the countless lives she'd ruined, including her own.

Emma can't even begin to fathom the things Regina needs to pay for, but she had her own list: Enacting the curse, her entire shitty life, forcing her parents to be separated all of these years, and ruining the lives of everyone from their world. August dying had been a result of the curse; if they'd stayed back in their world, he would be fine. Henry…sure, the turnover had been intended for her, but Henry had still died.

And Graham…

"Henry…how did you say Regina killed Graham again?"

Her voice is quiet, but she needs to know.

Henry blinks before staring up at her, confusing crossing his features.

"She took his heart when he spared Snow-your mom's life and she must have crushed it like she threatened to do in the book. Why?"

"Nothing, kid. Shouldn't you be back in bed?"

"No way, we have to find your parents."

Emma glances in Whale's direction to find him sobbing into his hands with Mother Superior comforting him.

"Shh, Eric, we'll find her," she whispers, taking his face in her hands.

"It's not just her, Blue, I killed-"

"Pinocchio's fine, it's not your fault Regina turned you into-"

"But I still-"

Emma tunes out again, remembering August. She digs her nails into her palm before Henry takes her hand. She looks down at Henry, whose face shows that he suspects about August. Poor kid, he loved August just as much as she did.

She moves to her knees so she can be eye level with the kid.

"Mom?"

Hearing him call her 'mom' breaks her heart, but not as much as the next words that come out of her mouth.

"I'm sorry, Henry. I didn't break the curse in time, August is gone."

"No! You have to find him! Magic will bring him back!"

"Henry-"

Emma shakes her head sadly, pulling him in for a hug, but Henry fights her.

"No! Pinocchio can be real again! Just like in the book!"

"Your Majesty…my…Pinocchio was…of course he was… that's why the two of you…he's gone?"

"You're The Blue Fairy, you can save him!" Henry argues and Emma stands, unable to bear Henry's pain anymore. Hadn't Regina done enough to him?

The Blue Fairy glances in Emma's direction. "I don't…know. Magic here is unpredictable. I can't make any promises, Henry."

Henry blinks back tears and runs to grab his backpack before going and locking himself in the bathroom.

"Henry!"

Emma pinches the tip of her nose.

"I…he'll be safe here, right? I can't believe you let Regina go…"

"She'll be at home, it's the only place she'll feel safe," Whale or Eric or whoever the Hell he was, whispered. "And he should be fine…to leave…I mean, he'll be safer with you, Regina could return for him." He let out a deep sigh and The Blue Fairy gave his shoulder another squeeze.

"Take your son, You Majesty, he'll be safe with you or with his grandparents."

"It's just Emma-"

"Let's go," Henry emerges from the bathroom dressed, his pack slung over his shoulder, and a determined look in his eyes. Emma knew that look, it was the same look she got when shit was about to get real.

"Henry-"

He ignores her and pushes past her.

Emma follows him and The Blue Fairy calls after her not to worry because she and Eric will make sure the patients are all kept safe.

She chases Henry out of the hospital and down the street, finally catching up to him after a block or so. The entire town looks like it's been hit by a hurricane, but she doesn't have time to ponder any of this, she needs to make sure Henry is somewhere safe so she can go deal with Regina.

"Where are you going?"

"You hear The Blue Fairy and she's right, The Evil Queen will be in her mansion. You need to defeat her before she hurts anyone else. You're the only one who can do it!"

Emma takes him by the shoulders and stops him, looking down at him.

"Henry, you do know what 'defeating' her means, right? I may hate her, Hell, everyone may hate her, and she may deserve it, but she's your mom too, kid."

Henry looks up at Emma with his eyes filled with pain.

"So? You think because she raised me that she loved me? I don't care what she said, mom, she never loved me. I spent my entire life with her using me to get what she needed out of everyone in this town and she doesn't love me like a son, I'm just a possession to her. You have no idea what things were like before you came to town, she's horrible.

She doesn't really care about me; all she cares about is winning."

"She tried to save you-"

"That doesn't fix anything, mom."

Emma lets out a long sigh. Good God, Regina had really fucked him up more than Emma thought, no kid at his age needed to be this…

Emma bites her lip.

He was just as jaded as she was, but he still had hope, or else he would have never believed in the curse.

"I'm sorry, Henry, if I had never…"

Emma wasn't sure what to apologize for. Trying to give him a better life and failing? Or not being good enough in the first place to be able to keep him.

"EMMA!"

She turns to find her mother, God, that sounded weird to say, coming towards her, her father in tow. Behind them Granny and Red stood with Leroy, Mr. Clark, and…

The Seven Dwarves, of course.

Her mother pulls her in for a hug and Emma hesitates for a moment before hugging her back. She looks towards her father who looks completely baffled by the site of her. Emma pulls away from her mother, not able to handle it. Her rage towards Regina had been momentarily subdued by the thought of what killing her would mean for the kid, but seeing her parents only reminded her that Regina needed to pay. Besides, Henry was right, it would come to it in the end anyway.

"Take Henry-"

"No!"

"YES! I am your mother and for once you're going to listen to me!"

Emma is not going to let him be thrown into yet another life or death situation because of fucking Regina.

She turns away from Henry and looks at her father.

"Take Henry and make sure he's safe."

"Where are you going?"

Emma glances down at Henry and gives his shoulder a small squeeze before looking back at her father.

"I'm going to finish this."

Before anyone can talk her out of it, Emma walks to overturned police cruiser and reaches into the glove compartment, finding her personal weapon. She pulls it out and checks to make sure it's loaded before shoving it into her back pocket.

Leroy looks at his brothers before declaring that they'll help.

"No! I'm doing this alone."

Emma heads in the direction of the mansion, walking quickly, she wants this over with as soon as possible.

"You need us, Princess. In case she tries to use her magic against you."

"You want to help me? Make sure my kid is safe and find that bastard Rumpelstiltskin, he's next."

She doesn't bother to see if she's being followed, she keeps going, not looking back.

When she approaches the mansion she catches sight of Regina through one of the windows and they both stare at one another for a long moment before Regina disappears. Emma treads up the path to the door and throw is open.

"Goddammit, Regina! I know you're in here!"

Emma ducks as a mirror on the wall shatters next to her. She wasn't planning on actually using the gun, beating Regina's ass with her bare hands would be much more satisfying, but if Regina intended to use magic, then fuck it. Emma goes for her gun and fires off two rounds but Regina disappears before they can hit her.

She turns, trying to find out where Regina could be lurking.

"This is just like you, Regina, cheat using magic. I don't know why I'd expect you to face me like a real woman. Henry was right about you."

As if on cue, Regina appeared at the bottom of the staircase, her eyes filled with fury.

Emma smirks, shoving the gun back into the waistband of her jeans. She says nothing, instead the moment she reaches Regina her fist connects with Regina's jaw and Regina hits her back just as hard. They go at it, throwing punches, eventually ending up in one of the many living rooms of the mansion. Just when Emma thinks she has her, a strong force throws her back against the wall.

Fucking Regina really couldn't win without magic, could she?

After all, hadn't she used magic to kill Graham?

Emma could feel her rage burning through her body and before she could register what she was doing, light shot out of her hands similar to the one that she'd seen released when she broke the curse and it knocked Regina back on her ass.

She let out a gasp and stared down at her hands for a minute.

_Fuck…_

But she didn't have time to ponder the fact that she apparently had magical powers because Regina was coming for her again. Emma tackled her and they rolled around until Emma had Regina pinned down with her gun drawn and aimed right between Regina's eyes.

Regina smirks.

"I guess you've won."

"Why did you do it?"

"Do what?"

"Any of it? The curse. Graham…"

"Graham betrayed me, he needed to die."

"That's not exactly how you're supposed to handle, rejection, Regina. So what, the guy you're screwing doesn't want to screw you anymore and you kill him? And then Henry…"

"I love my son!"

"Oh yeah, about as much as you loved Graham, too, I bet!" Emma snaps. "Henry's right, you're pure evil."

"So why haven't you killed me yet?"

Emma grabs Regina by the collar, ready to kill her, but she realizes she can't do it. She'll regret it later, she's sure, but no matter what Henry said now, Regina was his parent too and Emma couldn't kill Regina, not like this.

She stares Regina down, pissed.

"I'm not going to kill you, because I'm not like you, Regina. But I'm warning you, if you come after anyone ever again, I'll find it in me to stoop to your level, got it? You're not the only one in town who can do magic tricks anymore, so trust me, you don't want to fuck with me."

Emma doesn't waste time in shoving Regina away from her before securing her pistol and leaving the mansion. She didn't trust herself not to change her mind and pull the trigger anyway.

She has no idea where to look for Henry and her parents, so she just starts walking back towards the center of town. She'd check Granny's, then home, and then the station. It doesn't even occur to her to call them because she has no idea where her phone was, in the bottom of that elevator shaft, probably, and because her mind is reeling from the events of the day.

"Emma?"

Her head snaps up as she hears a familiar voice. But it can't be, she watched him die.

She turns to find him leaning against the wall to Granny's, struggling to make it to her. It's him but it's not at the same time. It doesn't matter to him how he's come back to her, because it's him.

"August!"

Emma runs to him and throws her arms around him.

"You did it," he whispers, moving his arm around her slowly.

Emma pulls away from him and reaches up to touch his cheek.

"Why…"

"I don't know, but it's better than the alternative."

She runs her fingers over the smooth wood that made up his face and blinked back tears. Fucking Regina. Maybe she wouldn't kill her, but Emma would find a way to make her pay for everything.

Emma looks up at him, thankful that he wasn't dead, having both of them men she loved dead would be too much for any woman to bear.

"I'm sorry I didn't believe you," she whispers before leaning up to kiss him.

The moment their lips touch a gust of wind rushes past them and Emma opens her eyes to find that magic has surrounded them. She pulls away from August and watches in wonder as she watches him transform from puppet back into a man. Her wonder doesn't last long though because August's body can't handle standing after such a transformation and she's forced to catch him before he hits his head.

Emma can't help but laugh, even after the day she's had.

"It's you."

"I told that you weren't normal, Princess," he says with a small smile and she takes his face in her hands, kissing him again.

"Mom, you did it!"

Emma pulls away from August as Henry throws himself in between them, hugging them both. Emma hugs him back and kisses the top of his head. "Yeah, I did, kid."

"Did you defeat The Evil Queen too?"

"No, she got away," Emma lies.

Seeing the relief in his eyes, Emma knows she made the right choice.


End file.
